J-D

The spectacular Queenstown area is well worth a visit, even a short visit such as proposed. However, in our experience, one needs considerably more time to do that area justice. Also, you would spend a substantial part of the available time travelling from AKL to ZQN and then return. Another consideration in planning a tightly-scheduled visit is that activities in Queenstown may not go according to plan. When we were most recently there, the Earnslaw was briefly "down" for some maintenance problem -- hardly a surprise considering that it is more than a century old!

Auckland also has much to see and do, though of a different nature than the activities available around ZQN. If your departure date from AKL cannot be extended, my inclination would be spend the time in and around Auckland and save Queenstown for another trip. Of course, if your interests are mainly in the things available around ZQN, that would be the determining factor. And yes, a Star Alliance gold card will get you into the ANZ Koru Lounges.

John

We received a letter from the captain in our stateroom tonight. It said that the city of Puerto Ushuaia had closed the port at 10:40 AM this morning due to winds of 50 knots which was way above their threshold of 25 knots. Even if we had tried we would not have been given permission to visit the city.

Satxdiver, I am enjoying your interesting account of your Golden Princess cruise.

When the winds at Ushuaia are very strong, they usually blow from west to east along the Beagle Channel, perpendicular to the dock. On at least one of the occasions when we were there, no tugboats were available to assist with docking or departing. On that occasion, we docked in the morning, but our departure was delayed by about 8 hours after a strong crosswind came up and held us against the dock until well after midnight. That forced us to miss Punta Arenas the next day :(. The captain said that, without tugs, it is difficult or impossible for the Star Princess (sister-ship of the Golden) to leave a dock if there is a direct crosswind exceeding about 20 knots. He indicated that some other ships, in particular those with azipod propulsion, could at times handle somewhat higher crosswinds. Missing Punta Arenas because of the "wind delay" at Ushuaia was one of our reasons for repeating the excellent B.A. to Valpo cruise in a subsequent year...

John

And the penultimate identity for the current P&O Adonia was the former Royal Princess. She was built as R Eight for Renaissance and later was Minerva II for Swan Hellenic before becoming Royal Princess and later Adonia.

Interesting that most if not all Princess ships built after the 2003 takeover by Carnival (as well as those built before) were built with the P&O sunburst symbol on the bow.

There is an interesting book by Roger Cartwright (2009), P&O Princess/The cruise ships, that summarizes the history of the various related companies and of the individual ships.

John

...

The main issue you may encounter is when the balcony is in direct sun - it may be a little hot. ...

Being too hot on the balcony is not going to be a problem during the majority of this late-October cruise. The OP will want to have layers, including a waterproof shell and a fleece or down layer for use as needed during the early part of the cruise. We were on the Ruby Princess from Quebec to NYC in early October 2014. We experienced quite variable temperatures, from the 30s F (with high winds and sleet!) to the high 70s F during pre-cruise days near Quebec City and during the cruise itself. By late Oct it may be cooler. On an earlier visit to Quebec City in mid-Oct., we encountered a brief thunder-snow storm.

On other days in October, the weather can be fairly warm and very pleasant in Quebec and the Maritime provinces. And during the last few days of OP's cruise, in the southeastern U.S., warm temperatures are certainly likely.

John

I have mentioned in previous threads that we used AboutChile for 3 tours in Feb.-March 2013. We were happy with all 3 tours, which were by van with both a driver and a separate guide. (It was the same driver for all 3 tours, and two different guides.) The 3 tours were (1) an all-day transfer tour from Valpo to Santiago, spending most of the time touring Valpo and Vina-del-Mar before travelling to Santiago; (2) a half-day city tour of Santiago the next morning as an introduction to the city; (3) a 2/3rd day transfer tour from Santiago back to Valpo several days later, stopping at two wineries en route.

Part of our reason for booking with AboutChile in 2013 was that, in early 2010, during a previous B.A. to Valpo cruise, AboutChile treated us very well indeed when our tour plans for Valpo & Santiago were scrambled by the great Chilean earthquake of 27 Feb. 2010.

John

Likewise, I do not recall ever being on a Princess ship without a retractable clothesline in the shower. There definitely were clotheslines in the two balcony cabins that we have occupied on the Star.

John

For us, the small closets on the Grand and the lack of a regularly-accessible central stairwell above deck 7 are annoyances. Likewise we are mildly unhappy about the Skywalkers-ectomy; the views from Skywalkers were much better than are the views from One5. Offsetting those drawbacks, Alfredo's is excellent, and -- most importantly -- the absence of the Riviera deck and its approx. 500 extra pax from the Grand (and sister-ships Golden and Star) is a big advantage. We have not had much problem with lineups for ATD on the Grand or Star, in contrast to the newer ships with the extra deck and the associated poorer space ratios. We have encountered some other problems on the Grand, but those were very likely specific to the officers and crew aboard then, and no longer relevant.

We would happily cruise on the Grand again. If other things were equal (though of course they rarely are), we would choose the Grand or Star or Golden (or the Diamond or Sapphire) over the enlarged ships with their consistently poorer (lower) space-ratios.

John

Down-filled jackets or vests are great on dry days, but rain (sometimes blown by strong wind) is common near Cape Horn. In my view, rain gear is essential on that itinerary. A waterproof shell plus the down jacket or vest = layers!

John

Highly variable. Predictably hot and humid from Buenos Aires and Valparaiso northward; varying from pleasant to quite cool in the south, e.g., when near Cape Horn. Near Cape Horn, it can vary from near calm to very windy and rough, sometimes with cold (and wind-blown) rain. It will not drop below 0 C / 32 F, but you may encounter 5-10 C with a 30+ knot wind (not uncommon near Tierra del Fuego). That feels cold even to us Canadians. You will need a wide variety of clothes, chosen so they can be layered to adapt to rapidly changing conditions.

You definitely should have waterproof rain gear (with hood) that can, when needed, be worn over a warm sweater, jacket, fleece, etc. We wanted to be prepared for some light hiking, and were very glad to have brought outer rain pants and water-resistant hiking boots with us on both of our cruises around Cape Horn. That necessitated bringing an extra suitcase, but it was worthwhile doing so. In any case, the key is layering and being prepared for everything from cool/wet/windy conditions in the south to very hot conditions farther north.

John

Last year we were on two different Princess ships almost back to back, with Capt. Todd McBain being in charge on the 2nd cruise. It seemed that just about everything went like clockwork under Capt McBain. The same could not be said for the preceding cruise with a different captain. Some problems are obviously beyond any captain's control, but when with Capt McBain, we were impressed by the smooth-running operations, good humored crew, informative announcements, and emphasis on measures to keep everyone healthy.

John

Here is another recent thread on this topic:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=44576514

As usual in threads discussing this matter, there were widely divergent and strongly held views!

John

We are both quite sensitive to smoke. On a Volendam cruise out of Sydney in 2012, we were frequently bothered by smoke from 2 or 3 of the balconies forward of ours, to the point that we were sometimes forced to go inside. That was shortly after Princess and some other lines banned smoking on balconies. I speculate that the problem may be worse now that more smokers have moved to HAL, as MMDownUnder noted above. We have avoided HAL since that trip. We have been pleased that, on subsequent Princess cruises, we have not noticed anyone violating the smoking ban on balconies.

John

We were happy with AboutChile. In Feb.-March 2013, we used them for a 2/3rd day Santiago to Valpo wine tour, and (several days previously) for an all-day "Valpo tour plus transfer to Santiago", and for a half-day Santiago tour.

John

I checked my Canadian car insurance provisions before a trip to NZ last year. Though my coverage (from State Farm) includes coverage on rental cars in Canada and the U.S., that coverage does not apply in NZ or anywhere else outside Canada and the U.S. I was also skeptical about the coverage under one of my credit cards, so opted to pay for the coverage provided by the rental company in NZ. One less thing to worry about...

John

The video I linked to earlier was shot on October 27th.

Late October is still fairly early in the (austral) spring in Mo`orea, so it is not surprising for some humpbacks to be lingering on their wintering grounds there.

John

Moorea in late summer. 10 day Tahiti cruise. Under the right conditions you can get into the water with snorkel gear and see them under the water.

Humpback whales are indeed near Moorea in the northern hemisphere summer, but at that time it is actually winter near Moorea. I expect that is the season when RDC1 encountered them. Humpbacks that migrate north to Moorea for the austral (southern-hemisphere) winter are believed to feed at more southerly locations during the austral summer. Generalizing, most baleen whales migrate toward lower latitudes (like Moorea in the southern hemisphere or Hawaii in the north) for the winter in that hemisphere, and to higher latitude feeding grounds for the summer.

John

And of course Gentoo & Magellanic Penguins are easy to see during a port stop at Port Stanley (Falklands).

John

Count me as another person who would select the ship that is scheduled to stop at the Falklands -- one of the main highlights of the "Round the Horn" cruises. We were able to land at Port Stanley during one of our two trips from BA to Valpo. If we ever do a similar trip again, we would again select an itinerary with a scheduled stop in the Falklands, despite the fact (or perhaps because of the fact) that we missed getting there on one of the two previous trips, and want to see more of that remote area.

John

Thank you for the review. I was surprised at your lack of enthusiasm for most of the islands that you visited. On a 2011 trip to FP and the Cook Islands, we spent several days on each of Tahiti, Moorea and Rarotonga, as well as having 1- or 2-day stops at various other islands, and we greatly enjoyed all of the islands. That included Tahiti, which often is dismissed as relatively uninteresting but which we found to be well worth a few days. For us, Moorea was wonderful. Different responses from different people... We look forward to returning to FP, on the Paul Gaugin, in late 2015.

John

We (and many other cruise passengers) have been happy to stay at the Hotel Orly in the Providencia District of Santiago. A nice but non-ostentatious small hotel, not pricey, good breakfast, safe area with many restaurants and easy subway access. For more details, see paragraph 3 in my post #4 at

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2069637

John

Apologies for being a Luddite, but until Princess greatly expands the internet capacity on their ships, I wish they would consistently block or severely throttle high-bandwidth programs -- at least during "busy" times of day. Single users of such programs may feel that they are only on-line for a few minutes. However, with numerous people doing that simultaneously for much of the day, service is seriously degraded for the large numbers of people wanting to do simple low-bandwidth tasks like checking e-mail. Ideally, Princess would greatly increase the system capacity, but until that happens, high-bandwidth programs (when allowed) greatly degrade the service for others. Now retreating into my flame-resistant suit...

John

MUTS is usually excessively noisy, frequently repeats the same videos, and is generally infuriating. As a direct result, we almost always avoid the nearby pool and its surroundings.

John

...Has anyone disembarked off their cruise, got back to their house / hotel, and decided "Hey the boat is leaving in 3 hours for another 4 nights lets go back on it". Then called Princess and received any special discount price to jump back on the boat?

Ours is an unusual case, but falls into this category in some ways. On 2 March 2010, we arrived at Valparaiso (the port for Santiago, Chile) on the Star Pr. after a "round the Horn" cruise from Buenos Aires (B.A.). This was 3 days after the great Chilean earthquake (magnitude 8.8) that occurred a few hundred km south of Valpo and Santiago. It was so strong that it caused some tsunami damage to the port in Valpo and (more importantly for cruise pax) earthquake damage to the international part of Santiago airport. Fatalities in Chile were estimated to be about 525 -- tragic, but an impressively low figure given the magnitude of the earthquake. For details of the earthquake, see

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Chile_earthquake

When Princess realized that only a small fraction of the pax for the next cruise (Valpo back to B.A.) would be able to get to the ship in the absence of a functioning airport, the disembarking passengers (including us) were given the option to remain aboard, at a low price per day. For us passengers, the idea was to avoid disembarking in Valpo/Santiago where the international airport was shut down, and where there was rumoured to be other damage in Santiago (details unknown aboard the ship at the time). Instead, we could travel on the Star Pr. back toward (or perhaps even all the way to) B.A., to a port where there was a functional airport. No doubt Princess was to some degree trying to help us, but in doing so they presumably also aimed to fill some cabins that would otherwise have been empty due to the inability of most incoming pax to get to Santiago and to the ship.

A few hundred of us did opt to stay aboard for part or all of the return trip to B.A. Unfortunately, Princess did not make the offer to "stay aboard" until the morning of disembarkation, after everyone's luggage was already ashore in Valpo. Retrieving luggage from the cruise terminal, and cancelling post-cruise tour and hotel arrangements with essentially no notice, was a minor adventure. In addition, a few hundred "new" pax did manage to get to Santiago and eventually got to the ship despite the airport and port problems. However, both groups combined totalled only about a half-full ship. Inevitably, there were a lot of last-minute cancellation, travel disruption, communication, insurance, cabin-assignment, and related problems, especially for the incoming passengers -- vigourously discussed on CC at the time. However, from a broader view, these problems were all minor compared with the troubles that many Chileans had to endure.

The Princess offer to disembarking pax to "stay aboard at low cost" did work out well for some of us. In our case, we travelled about half way back to B.A. on the Star, disembarked at Ushuaia on Tierra del Fuego, and flew home from there relatively painlessly. Some other CC members stayed aboard all the way back to B.A. If nothing else, missing out on our planned post-cruise stay in Santiago gave us an excuse to repeat the trip in 2013, with much less drama.

John

We were on the Ruby for the previous sailing from Quebec City, 20 days ago. When we went for ATD around 19:30 on the evening of departure, without a reservation, we were told that the wait would be at least 1 hour. We went to the buffet instead. Given the convenience on a port-intensive cruise of 3/4-hour meals rather than 2 or 2.5 hr meals, with no need to select and book a meal-time hours in advance, we more-or-less happily continued going to the buffet on all subsequent evenings other than the 2 formal nights. [On those 2 nights, we indulged in the Crown Grill, which was excellent.]

Very surprisingly to me, some people maintain that they have not had a problem with lines for ATD on the Ruby and the other 3 "enlarged" Grand-class ships -- with the added Riviera deck and the extra ~500 pax. Shogun or others now on the Ruby, any reports of crowding or lack of it in ATD during the current cruise from Quebec will be of interest.

John

When we were most recently in Paihia in November 2013 (not via cruise ship), we observed the Sun Princess tendering passengers to Waitangi.

John